Modular wall panel system are being used to an ever increasing extent for forming interior partitions in buildings, because permanent walls do not provide the flexibility necessary for office environments wherein office layout changes constantly are being made. In buildings with conventional permanent walls, conventional wiring systems with power blocks, power cables, telephone wires and the like embedded in the permanent walls are being used with less frequency.
A typical modular wall panel system has a number of wall panels arranged in linear, angular or cornered arrays to divide a given space into separate work areas. Each work area might be provided with a number of electrical/electronic devices such as computers, telephones and the like which must be plugged into electrical outlets. Consequently, electrical wiring is run along, between and, normally, through the wall panels to provide electrical service for all of the work areas. The wall panels often have longitudinal compartments defining raceways for receiving power blocks or outlets and through which the electrical wiring is run. Most often, the raceways are formed along the bottom edges of the wall panels.
Heretofore, most such wiring systems have been a five-wire system including a ground wire, a neutral wire and three live wires. Many office building layouts presently are equipped with such five-wire systems. In order to increase the capabilities of the systems, such as going to an eight-wire system, heretofore the entire system has been reworked, including removing wiring harnesses mounted in the wall panel raceways, to convert to an expanded system, such as an eight-wire system. These conversion procedures are very expensive, including conversion of the permanent lead-in source systems in the permanent structure that electrically feeds the wiring system for the modular wall panels.
This invention is directed to solving these problems by providing a new conversion assembly or wiring harness which can be installed in a wall panel to increase its wiring capabilities, along with the capabilities of adjacent panels, without interrupting or replacing the permanent feed wiring.